Saturday, February 06, 2010

20% Off for First 10 Customers

Leopoldina Earrings - from the Krobo Fusion collection at www.alexandraamaro.com.

There's nothing like a little celebration after days (or months!) of hard work, right? Well, after all the long nights of photo editing, copy writing and wire-wrapping I logged in preparation for launcing my new web site, I think a little party is definitely in order.

To say thank you to all of you lovely blog readers who have supported me in quitting my day job and finding the courage to call myself a proper jewelry artist, I'd like to offer a 20% discount on any piece listed on www.alexandraamaro.com. This offer is good for the first 10 people to make a purchase on the website, so click on over and have a browse right now.

Enter promotion code FIRST10 to get your 20% discount. You will see a box for promotion codes when you click on your shopping cart.

Cheers to you, my friends. May this be the beginning of an inspiring new career.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Launched!

After hundreds of hours of wire-wrapping, photo-editing, wine-drinking and all-around hard work, my jewelry website is finally on the air.

Come visit me at www.alexandraamaro.com!

Special thanks to my web designer Brian, my great friend and jewelry model Tara, to Rico for all the pep talks, and to everyone else who has encouraged me along the path to quit my day job and become a full-time jewelry artist.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Getting Back on the Horse

The workout horse, that is. It's time to, as they say in Portuguese, tomar vergonha na cara and get back to an exercise regime. I was doing great back in Maputo thanks to weekly sessions with Liliana the personal trainer, but the move to Casa Cali threw a wrench in my motivation (and time) to exercise. Now that I've finally settled into a routine with school, jewelry making, errands and life in general, it's time to get back in shape.

I tried going to a dance class the other day, but the studio was frustratingly closed and I lost my momentum to go back the next week and try again. All of the Nia classes I've found require using the car, which is a huge pain as there is NO parking near any of the studios. I really, really wish I could find a Nia studio near BART, but alas it doesn't look like it's in the cards, at least this semester. So I've decided to go for the next best alternative - personal training near school.

I found a great studio that is literally 1 block from campus, which means it is easy to get to right after class, and the likelihood of procrastination/laziness is much less than if I had to come home and leave again (or drive!) to go to work out. Also, by paying for personal training it actually helps me take advantage of my workouts. I feel a much greater obligation to actually go and give it my all, as opposed to joining a gym or doing group classes somewhere (other than Nia, of course, which I love and am always motivated to do).

I have an intake consultation on Tuesday, and am really looking forward to getting active again. I was so proud of what I accomplished in Moz in terms of core strength and muscle tone, and it's a shame to see that most of it has slipped away in the few months we've been here in California. Time to get back at it, one step at a time.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Photo Day

My gorgeous friend Tara, who flew to Casa Cali a couple weeks ago for a photoshoot for alexandraamaro.com.

I'm almost there with the new website. The last few techie kinks are getting worked out as I write, and the only thing left on my to-do list is to take an additional round of product photos.

I am a total perfectionist, and while I already have some beautiful, carefully-edited photos of my jewelry, they feature different backgrounds. It has been a big challenge to me to find a unified-looking way to photograph both dark gems/blackwood pieces as well as bone-white trade beads and have everything look good. The white pieces in particular were really challenging, and I had to resort to using a darker background to make those photos pop. The products look great, but the photos don't look cohesive, which is driving me crazy.

I finally found a background that I think will work for all of my jewelry, regardless of the material. So today I am re-shooting so that my new website will look clean, pulled-together and professional. I think all of the long hours I've spent on my businesses deserve such a presentation. :)

And while I am a perfectionist, I am also a realist...so instead of re-shooting all of my pieces and further delaying my site launch, I am only re-shooting the main image for each item. With time, I can update the rest of the photos that appear as thumbnails.

Here's to a happy day as a shutterbug!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Maningue Saudades

Sometimes I miss our life in Mozambique so much I could cry. Not because I wish to move back out of dissatisfaction with our new chapter at Casa Cali (although obviously part of me would love to be back with the girls for leisurely late lunches at Zambi and weekend suntanning at Hotel Cardoso). Rather, I wish we were back in Maputo because I can feel memory playing its old, funny tricks on me already. Nearly five years spent between Maputo and Chimoio, and only a handful of months here in the Bay Area, and already the crisp lembranças of the former are slipping away. Some days it all seems so distant that I can barely believe that I lived one-sixth of my life in Africa. The memories dull, the floorplan of our flat seemingly imprinted forever in my mind begins to contort, the smells fade and the luso-afro slang flutters away.

I wonder, in the midst of these memory-games, what exactly I will carry with me as permanent, faithful memories of our time in Mozambique. It makes me sad that already I am losing part of our experience there...

Perhaps this is a contributing factor to my renewed desire to write?

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Chuva-licious

Maybe by posting this photo I can perform some sympathetic magic and bring the blue skies back to the Bay...

It's raining again, and while I know better than to complain about water that will be much-needed to prevent summer wildfire disasters, I admit I am longing for sunshine and blue skies. We had four consecutive storms slam us last week, and now it seems there is at least another one lined up for this week. On the bright side, I have great all-weather boots, a wonderful rain jacket, and two cute umbrellas that help me cheer up despite all the gray and wet.

It's been amazing to see how much my wardrobe needed to be tweaked to suit the weather here in Northern California. Not surprising, considering most of what I owned was geared towards living in a sauna (aka Maputo), with a couple of super-heavy overcoats in the mix to get me through visits to New Mexico in the winter. I've had to invest in rain-appropriate clothing, boots, leggings and layering items, in particular cardigans, in order to make my previous wardrobe at all compatible with the temperature here. I obviously didn't want to stop using my old clothes, so I've found ways to layer and make them work in new and creative ways.

So this weekend has been a busy one thus far. I'm working on my Alexandra Amaro website, which will launch next week. It's taken so much more time than I anticipated to upload all the products, and my collection isn't even that big! I still have a bit more work to go tonight before we do the soft launch on Monday, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I've also been busy with homework for school. I have to draw a still life using proper perspective and contour lines, and for my 3D class I have to make a wire sculpture that shoes movement, volume and mass, and inside/outside space (I've chosen to do a jellyfish). I have to "skin" the sculpture with tissue paper, and I plan on knitting some tentacles to break up the monotony of the wire. Again, much more work than I'd ever anticipated a simple wire sculpture could require, based on my experience with project #1 (baobab tree).

I also plan to make a lemon curd cockaigne and a quiche this evening. We bought eggs at Costco and I'm trying to find creative ways to use them, lest they go to waste.

Hope your weekend has been a good one!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Callused Fingers, Lack of Sleep and an Undeniable Urge to Tell People to Take a Shower

Also known as my first week of art school.

The callused fingers and lack of sleep I was anticipating. Pretty much comes with the territory when you are a metals major and have 8am classes.

What *has* been a surprise is how freaking DIRTY some of my classmates look. The worst part? With a few exceptions, most of these kids appear to be going for this look deliberately. It's all part of the hipster façade, I suppose, but the stained California Raisins sweatshirt plus filthy neon 80's-style sneakers plus holey leggings plus a carefully tilted, grease-stained trucker hat atop a femullet* is just too much in my book.

Then again, my book is ancient in young-person terms and I am admittedly out of touch with many of the current fashion trends, bands, superfoods and technology.

So...enough about fashion or the lack thereof. Additional impressions from my first week at school:

- Tuition is insanely expensive, but I really feel I'm getting value for my money. Teachers seem excellent, class sizes are small (no more than 20 students in any of my classes), studios are well-equipped, there are tons of on-campus resources for students, and the level of performance expected from students is quite high.

- Speaking of performance, school is turning out to be much more work than I'd anticipated. For each hour I'm in a studio class, I spend one hour outside class working on homework or projects. This is completely normal. Thankfully I am good at time management, otherwise I think I'd be on the brink of an anxiety attack right now.

- Aside from wanting to give some of them a good scrubbing, most of my fellow students seem very nice. There is a good mix of ages (I'm not the oldest, thankfully), backgrounds, nationalities, and prior artistic experience. Everyone seems decently motivated to participte in class and excel at our assignments. There is no stigma associated with striving to do well, as can be the case in other academic environments. Nobody is labeled a nerd, and the overachievers simply win the admiration of the rest of the class when they turn in exquisitely made pieces.

- I've learned a lot in one week. I learned to solder (4 different ways!), learned to saw metal, learned to use a gigantic torch with an oxygen hose attached, learned how to put a rice paper skin on a wire structure, and learned how to do contour drawings.

- Even in art school, teachers can make or break a class. I was very apprehensive about taking Drawing I because I have no formal experience, but it's turned out to be one of my favorite classes. The teacher is excellent - she's funny, encouraging and inspiring. She sent my anxiety packing the first day, and I'm quite proud of what I've accomplished in class thus far.

- The downsides, other than the super expensive tuition: lots of expensive supplies to purchase for each class; tons of things to lug around every day (drawing easel, tool box, sketch books, etc.) and no locker access for freshmen from what I've understood; no real lounge on campus, although we are near tons of shops and restaurants; very few drinking fountains (I hate buying water) and cold classrooms. In all, no serious complaints, especially given all the positive things the school has to offer.

I'll check in again around midterms to see what, if anything, has changed about my impressions. The bottom line? I'm really happy I decided to go to art school and become a full-time jeweler.

* The femullet is a term coined in honor of this girl at school who has deliberately cut her hair short on the crown, but rocks a forehead full of curly bangs and a swath of long, greasy hair down her back. She obviously thinks this is a great look, because mullets don't just happen, especially to women. I am practicing restraint not to use my shop scissors to give her an unsolicited trim while we work on our wire sculptures.
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